A Hempfield man who spent nearly two years in jail awaiting trial for obstructing traffic on his bicycle has been arrested again, this time for allegedly throwing a traffic cone into a flooded creek in Greensburg.
City police said security footage showed David Smith, 60, riding his bike at Lynch Field last Saturday evening.
Officials were monitoring the cameras because heavy rainfall was causing the field to flood. An officer watched as Smith rode his bike on the track surrounding the field, picked up a traffic cone, rode with it to a nearby pedestrian bridge, and threw it into Jack’s Run, according to police.
Lynch Field is closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
An officer drove to the field while a dispatcher continued to watch the camera. The officer quickly found and confronted Smith.
Police charged Smith with theft, receiving stolen property, criminal mischief and scattering rubbish.
The cone, worth about $22, was lost in the floodwaters, according to police.
In 2017, Smith was convicted on nine misdemeanor offenses for six separate incidents dating back to 2012 in which he rode his bike down the center of several roads, blocking traffic.
He spent almost two years in jail before his trial because he refused to accept a bail condition that would have required him to undergo a mental health evaluation.
After his conviction, Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio ordered Smith not to ride his bike on county roads until his probation was up in January 2020.
In February 2019, Bilik-DeFazio extended Smith’s probation by two years after a former state police patrolman said he spotted Smith riding a mountain bike on Carbon Road in Hempfield.
